Former San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court for another hearing on Wednesday, and once again the once highly-touted and publicized case was continued by stipulation.

• Developer Al Steward pleaded guilty in 2001 to bribery charges that brought down the city of San Bernardino’s infamous “Gang of Four.” Four council members — Valerie Pope-Ludlam, Edward Negrete, Frederick Curlin and Ralph Hernandez — were cited in 1994 for consistently backing Steward projects and receiving hefty contributions in return. Most, if not all, of those projects failed to bring in promised revenue and crippled the city’s redevelopment agency.

Felice Luciano, left, and former San Bernardino Airport manager Scot Spencer wait outside courtroom S-23 at the San Bernardino County Court House at an April 17, 2013 hearing. (Kurt Miller/Staff Photographer)

May 29, 2013; 10:55 AM

Former San Bernardino airport manager Scot Spencer and a business partner of his appeared briefly in court Wednesday, May 29 and ordered to return for a status hearing on July 10.

Former San Bernardino airport manager Scot Spencer and a business investor of his appeared in court Wednesday, April 17, on corruption charges and both were ordered to return on May 29 for a status hearing.

San Bernardino County prosecutors have filed multiple counts of conspiracy and perjury chargers against former airport developer Scot Spencer, left, and investor and co-conspirator Felice G. Luciano, right, in connection with the development of the San Bernardino International Airport and related companies.

SAN BERNARDINO — Former San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer appeared in court for a pretrial hearing Tuesday for the first time since his March 24 arrest, and has been appointed a public defender to represent him.

When the San Bernadino County District Attorney announced charges against former San Bernardino International Airport (SBIA) Project Manager Scot Spencer, and an associate, last week I asked myself two questions.

SAN BERNARDINO – Former San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer pleaded not guilty Friday to criminal conspiracy and other charges during his arraignment via closed-circuit television in San Bernardino Superior Court.

San Bernardino International Airport officials say they will seek to recover more than $1 million they paid to former airport developer Scot Spencer to settle a legal dispute over a lease agreement prosecutors now say was a sham.

San Bernardino International Airport officials on Wednesday said they will seek to recover more than $1 million they paid to former airport developer Scot Spencer to settle a legal dispute over a lease agreement prosecutors now say was a sham.

San Bernardino International Airport officials’ willingness to trust Scot Spencer – now charged with five felonies and the owner of a criminal record when he began his relationship with SBIA – with developing a passenger terminal and other key facilities may have come from a lack of others’ interest in taking on a project that may have had a slim chance of success in the first place.

Scot Spencer, the former airline executive and convicted felon who was nonetheless entrusted with leading the development of San Bernardino International Airport, faces five years in prison after being charged with an alleged associate with conspiring to steal more than $1 million in public funds.

A long-running investigation into business dealings at the San Bernardino International Airport Authority resulted in criminal charges and the arrest of former airport developer Scot Spencer, District Attorney Michael Ramos announced Monday, March 25.

San Bernardino District Attorney Mike Ramos is set to hold another press conference. This time to announce “an” arrest, related to the San Bernardino International Airport Authority, at 11:00 a.m. Monday.

San Bernardino International Airport officials are negotiating with two companies to extend their lease agreements and also preparing to launch a marketing campaign in hopes of attracting a tenant for a hangar previously occupied by a corporate jet refueling facility.

Spencer

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer Posted: 10/19/2012 03:13:04 PM PDT

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Friday evicted embattled San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer from his remaining hangar and office space after Spencer let the liability insurance policies on his companies lapse.

Bill Ingraham, aviation director for San Bernardino International Airport, stands in front of the 1973 Boeing 727 that was used as collateral for a $550,000 loan the airport gave Scot Spencer’s companies in 2008. A mechanic inspected the plane recently to find a missing engine that was also used as collateral for the loan. (Photo by Kimberly Pierceall/The PE)

Published: 14 October 2012 – 06:12 PM

With Scot Spencer and San Bernardino International Airport, nothing is simple.

When airport officials were asked to account for three engines that Spencer used along with a Boeing 727 as collateral for a $550,000 loan from the airport, there wasn’t a yes or no answer. Instead, there was a question: Where are the engines?

To read story by Kimberly Pierceall in The Press Enterprise, click here.

Attorneys for the bankrupt SBD Airport Services will go before a federal judge Monday to contend that interim San Bernardino International Airport chief A.J. Wilson acted improperly when he cut off the company’s access to jet fuel.

The hearing is scheduled to take place Monday afternoon at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside.

SAN BERNARDINO – Attorneys for the bankrupt SBD Airport Services are asking a federal judge to force San Bernardino International Airport administrators to restore the company’s access to the airport’s fueling facilities.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside/KIMBERLY PIERCEALL/STAFF PHOTO

BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL STAFF WRITER kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 30 March 2012 11:18 AM

Norton Property Management Services LLC, a company affiliated with Scot Spencer that filed for bankruptcy in December to avoid eviction from a hangar at San Bernardino International Airport, was granted another 90 days to either keep or reject the amended lease it has had with the airport since October 2010.

A model of a gulfstream is on display at the Million Air passenger terminal at the San Bernardino International Airport. (File Photo)

SAN BERNARDINO – A feud between the San Bernardino International Airport Authority and a controversial provider of aircraft fuel intensified Thursday, after the provider – SBD Airport Services – announced it filed for bankruptcy protection, alleging the airport is intentionally crippling its services.

A model of a gulfstream is on display at the Million Air passenger terminal at the San Bernardino International Airport. (File Photo)

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer Posted: 03/02/2012 09:03:55 PM PST

Companies managed by embattled San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer are being sued for nonpayment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and fuel costs to operate the now defunct Million Air franchise at the airport.

SAN BERNARDINO – Million Air, a corporate chain of upscale refueling facilities for private jets, has terminated its franchise agreement with SBD Properties, LLC., a firm managed by a controversial developer who began operating a franchise at San Bernardino International Airport in 2010.

SAN BERNARDINO – A company connected to airport developer Scot Spencer filed an appeal Tuesday against a Superior Court judge’s recent ruling that allowed airport officials to terminate its contract for not maintaining minimum fuel reserves for aircraft.

Spencer

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer Posted: 02/17/2012 11:48:58 AM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – Airport officials can terminate their contract with a company tied to embattled airport developer Scot Spencer for failing to maintain minimum fuel reserves for aircraft, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

Scot Spencer

SAN BERNARDINO – SBD Properties, a business operating at San Bernardino International Airport, and airport managers are set to meet in court on Friday in an attempt to resolve a dispute over access to the airport’s fuel tanks.

SAN BERNARDINO – The San Bernardino International Airport Authority’s board members took action Wednesday to remove control of the airport’s fuel supply from a company that, in the words of the airport’s top executive, has come critically close to running out of jet fuel and owes the airport payment on some 80,000 gallons of fuel.

SAN BERNARDINO – An official with San Bernardino International Airport’s most upscale business paid part of the fees to renew its business license Thursday, but it still wasn’t enough to get a valid license, city officials said Friday.

SAN BERNARDINO – Million Air, the upscale jet refueling facility at San Bernardino International Airport, has been operating without a business license since April, city officials said Thursday.

The facility, which caters to private and corporate aircraft, has been the most high profile business drawn to the airport and has been touted by airport officials as an example of the airport’s potential prosperity. It began operations in 2010.

An attorney for Norton Property Management Services LLC, one of 16 companies under federal investigation in connection with an alleged corruption at San Bernardino International Airport, says aggressive actions by the airport forced the company to file bankruptcy.

Representatives of Norton Property Management Services, LLC., which rents and operates portions of a hangar at the embattled San Bernardino International Airport, met with creditors on Monday as the company’s bankruptcy proceedings moved forward.

An administrative law judge from the U.S. Department of Labor has ruled in favor of a San Bernardino man who says he was wrongfully fired from an aircraft maintenance company that he worked for at San Bernardino International Airport.

A Baby Grand Piano (Pictured) currently sits in the lobby at the publicly-funded Million Air Terminal

Joe Nelson, Staff Writer Posted: 12/21/2011 07:01:53 PM PST

San Bernardino County will hold its annual State of the County Address in February at the Million Air jet refueling facility at San Bernardino International Airport, where federal agents served a search warrant in September.

County spokesman David Wert said the county held the event at Million Air this year to much success, and therefore decided it was the ideal location to hold it again.

The Department of Transportation is taking back $10 million it promised the city of Highland to fund road improvements affecting San Bernardino International Airport, according to a Dec. 8 letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to Highland’s public works director.

The aircraft that Scot Spencer put up for collateral for a $550,000 loan from San Bernardino International Airport as part of a hastily agreed upon legal settlement, is worthless according to the San Bernardino County assessor. Now the plane has been booted by the county tax collector’s office.(STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER/KIMBERLY PIERCEALL)

BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL STAFF WRITER kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 08 December 2011 04:39 PM

The San Bernardino County tax collector has seized a Boeing aircraft belonging to SBD Aircraft Services Inc. at San Bernardino International Airport after the business failed to pay more than $17,000 in taxes.

Morris

SAN BERNARDINO – An effort to get Mayor Pat Morris to speak from the dais about the ongoing federal investigation at San Bernardino International Airport was thwarted Monday night at the City Council meeting.

The board members overseeing San Bernardino International Airport will consider at their next meeting paying subcontractors owed about $4 million for work done on the airport’s main passenger terminal, a three-story U.S. Customs building and a fix made to a bay inside one of the hangars to fit Boeing’s 747-8 freighter while it was undergoing tests there.

Supervisor Neil Derry

“…We need to foreclose on his leases and inform him that his services are no longer needed at San Bernardino International Airport or any of the airport’s affiliates.” NEIL DERRY, San Bernardino County supervisor, 3rd District

Spencer

Embattled San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer has racked up roughly $545,876 in delinquent property taxes since 2005, of which $31,618 has been seized by the county tax collector.

San Bernardino County tax collectors have seized $31,618 from the developer of San Bernardino International Airport and his related businesses, a fraction of the $544,876 he owes in property taxes, according to the county agency.

Scot Spencer (KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL STAFF WRITER kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 21 October 2011 04:56 PM

Scot Spencer, whose companies have developed, managed and leased space at San Bernardino International Airport and owed about $673,820 in rent as of early October, was evicted from at least one space he rents there on Thursday.

The embattled San Bernardino International Airport Authority took some giant steps in the right direction last week, ordering a review of contracts with a controversial developer and promising to become more transparent.

The public agency overseeing San Bernardino International Airport will review all of its agreements with the airport’s developer Scot Spencer at its Oct. 12 meeting during closed session and discuss whether to terminate parts of those agreements, said Tim Sabo, legal counsel for the San Bernardino International Airport Authority and the related Inland Valley Development Agency.